In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd alludes to the first lunar landing to communicate that the mystery of the moon is more intriguing than its discovery. For example, August explains her distress when she hears of Ranger 7’s mission to the moon: “‘Now it won’t ever be the same, not after they’ve landed up there and walked around on her [the moon]. She’ll be just one more big science project’” (114). August further explains that the moon is fascinating because of its ambiguity, and now that humans have access to it, the moon’s mystery is uncovered. Thus, the reality of scientific discoveries replaces the mystical beauty that the previously untouched moon once held. On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 lands on the moon and sends pictures back to…
special outside washroom just for black people and not letting black people into stores or hotels in The Secret Life of Bees. Black maids are not allowed to use whites’ washroom and the guest washroom as white people think they carry ‘disease’ that will transmit to them through using the same toilet. “‘I did not raise you to use the colored bathroom!’ I hear her hiss-whispering, thinking I can't hear, and I think, Lady, you didn't raise your child at all. ‘This is dirty out here, Mae Mobley. You'll catch diseases!’” (Stocklett 102). Miss Leefolt does not allow her daughter, Mae Mobley, to use Aibileen’s washroom as she thinks black people carry disease. Black maids cannot use their employers’ washroom either so they have to use their special…
In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, August acts as the unorthodox religious leader of the Daughters of Mary and contributes to Lily’s character and growth. August proves to be a leader, and a positive influence towards Lily in every action she performs. She welcomes Lily, a white girl, into her house during the 1960s, a time when racial segregation was prominent. By doing so, August goes against the popular social views, and jeopardizes her reputation for Lily. August teaches Lily many life lessons such as love, hope, and the importance of religion. Because of August, Lily becomes stronger, and more aware of the society in which she lives in.…
Sue M. Kidd grew up in 1964 where prejudice and discrimination was still in full effect, in “The Secret life of Bees” a New York Times bestseller and major picture movie was written it had a lot of influences from her adolescents. Sue M. Kidd explains to the reader the reasoning for her naming the book “The Secret Life of Bees’ was because she practically lived with Bees when she was younger, the honey would ooze out from the walls onto the floor. “The Secret Life of Bees” was published on November 8Th,2001 and the major picture movie was released on October 17th, 2008. Sue M Kidd uses many literary devices throughout the book, in fact it is an expended metaphor describing how the Bees illustrates who Lily (the main character) is and what…
In The Secret Life of Bees Lily, the protagonist deals with an unsettling amount of inevitable parental conflicts. In the beginning of the novel, Lily runs away from home to escape a abusive father who constantly mistreated her, to find a way to discover the true meaning behind her mothers death. The author makes parental conflict a trouble for Lily throughout the whole novel. Lily has the guilt of believing she accidentally killed her own mother. She is sourced of the information considering her deceased mother, given to her by August and T-Ray, her feeling of being unwanted, and her feeling of the need to feel the love of a family.…
Larkin’s use of alliteration when unfolding the content, that of Bleaney’s room, ‘flowered curtains, thin and frayed, Fall to within five inches of the sill’(l.3-4) creates an ironic bleak description of the things which presumably once surrounded Mr Bleaney; this contrasts the function of alliteration as its usually used in a playful manner. Using such a feature allows some light-heart, creating a rhythmic flow to the poem, despite the dismal atmosphere being presented. Larkin uses alliteration quite a few times in Mr. Bleaney, ‘Behind the door, no room for books or bags’ (l.9) signifying that the room in which he resided in was so box size that there was no space for leisure or anything exciting, not even behind the door where it may not…
There are many different ways to classify a person, some good and some bad. In Rosiland Wiseman’s essay “The Queen Bee and Her Court” she says, “We need to give girls credit for the sophistication of their social structures”. She’s right, the way girls separate each other into different cliques is very complex and multilayered, but sometimes it can be very harmful to some of the girls. If you classify someone has a “Queen Bee”, or “The IT girl”, they are going to feel empowered and special. But what about the girls you call “Losers”, or “Wannabe’s”. They are going to feel depressed, like they don’t fit in, or that they’re weird or not as good as those other girls.…
By most accounts, Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. She was also one of the greatest Blues singers of the 1920s. The road that took her to the title “Empress of the Blues” was not an easy one. It was certainly not one of the romantic "rags to riches" tales that Horatio Alger made popular during her time. For a young black woman from the South the journey was anything but easy, and it would require a special kind of person, and Bessie Smith was definitely that. She was a woman who fought for what she believed in and backed down to no one. She had a boundless determination, which sometimes became a flaming hot temper, and no one was exempt from it. Yet these same experiences and temperament also expressed great loyalty to those around her. The entire range, with all its passion, was expressed in her songs, and the way she sang them.…
When I was in first grade my entire class went on a field trip to Bee City Honeybee Farm, Petting Zoo, and Nature Center. On that field trip, we learned a lot about bees, (though now that I’m older, I recall just about one thing from that entire trip) and other animals.…
The Year was 2069. Queen Elizabeth was yet to abdicate her throne. With the advancement of the Internet of Things, the line between robot and human has become blurred. Ever since she took hold of the largest cyborg manufacturing company, people have been getting suspicious...but the last thing on the Queen's mind is sharing her power.…
The poet Maya Aneton once said “It [is] one of the greatest gifts [a person] can give [him or herself] to forgive. Forgive everybody.” It is difficult sometimes for people to forgive themselves for past issues or transgressions. The result often becomes an inability to exculpate others as well. However, if a person can seek forgiveness, then happiness will become more apparent in his or her life. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd demonstrates how contentment becomes prevalent in a person's life through the characters Lily and June once they seek forgiveness. Lily, a fourteen-year-old runaway white girl, not only struggles to forgive herself, but her father, T Ray, and her mother for their wrongdoings in her lifetime. Similarly, June, one of the Boatwright sisters that takes in Lily when she runs away, strives to pardon her ex fiance and Lily’s mother due to the undeserved way they treated June in her past.…
It is very common for writers to use literary devices as tools to help convey the meaning of their work. In the passage from the novel, The Beet Queen, written by Louise Erdich, Erdich uses literary devices to depict the impact of the environment on the two children. The author uses imagery to describe the physical effect of the environment on the children, selection of detail to depict the tree’s impact on the children, and point of view to clearly explain the impact the environment has on the children.…
Memories are the piece of our soul who make us who we are. I have chosen to explore the theme ‘Memories and the past can affect the future’. This theme is evident in the novels The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Before You by Amber Hart and If I Stay by Gayle Forman. It is also apparent in the film The Time Traveller’s Wife directed by Robert Schwentke.…
Society’s way of thinking intensely about identity, places individuals in specific gender roles. Historically, gender identification has been socially constructed within individuals in a society. The debate on expectations embedded in society has been discussed constantly in the past. During the late 19th century, identity roles have changed with an innumerable influential number of women who fought in numerous ways for the same rights that men were effortlessly granted. The roles of females have also changed significantly for gender equality; however, in the 21st century, women and men are still not considered equal. Also, gender equality differs across cultures as women and men are stereotyped according to the roles they must assume in the society. However, both sexes are still expected to exude a character that is defined by societal expectations, restraints, and religious values.…
My impressions about Lily in the novel were that she was very brave with all the things that happened in her life, and she was only fourteen years old, she wasn’t that mature to know exactly all that things that actually happened, she was a beautiful young girl. She got over all the things that got her traumatized. That sense of humor that she had really help her to survive, because she was a happy girl and with a good mood. Lily grew alone, I mean she never had siblings or someone to play with. After a long time she begun to understand more about her mother, she forgive herself, and her growth took her beyond and to be more and more mature. Another thing that I was impressed about was that Lily has always been beaten down and abused by her father T-Ray, and because of that she never was a bad girl.…